Ten years after its release, Taylor Swift’s fifth studio album, “1989,” continues to receive acclaim. The original version of the album, released October 27, 2014, has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time by numerous publications, including Rolling Stone and Consequence. Its re-recorded 2023 edition, titled 1989 (Taylor’s Version), placed 18th on Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list released earlier this year.
Regardless of how you feel about 1989, there’s no denying its importance both in Swift’s discography and in the genre of modern pop music. Because of this, it is worth taking a look back to unpack the album’s context, tracklist and legacy.
The story of 1989 begins with Swift’s then-most recent album, Red, released in October 2012. At that point, Swift was, by all accounts, one of the biggest faces in country music. She had already racked up seven Country Music Awards and was one of the best-selling artists in genre history. Red reinforced her country pedigree through softer tunes like “I Almost Do” and “Begin Again,” but it also provided listeners with a new, dance-pop dimension to her artistry. The album’s three pop-oriented singles — “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “22” — all had one thing in common: their co-writers and producers, Max Martin and Karl “Shellback” Schuster.
Martin and Shellback were already established superstar producers by the time they began collaborating with Taylor Swift in 2012. The former had written and co-produced classics like “... Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears and “So What” by Pink, while the latter had collaborated on 2010s radio hits like “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” by Usher and “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5. With Martin, Shellback and former fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff enlisted on production, it’s safe to say that 1989 had an abundance of starpower heading into its recording.
The second track of “1989” “Blank Space,” has become one of Swift’s signature songs. The song’s signature line, “got a long list of ex-lovers,” has famously been misconstrued as “got a lonely Starbucks lovers.” Swift has called this misunderstanding the “most delightful” in a song “written about misunderstandings.” Swift, who has received constant attention for her dating history, perfectly mocks the media’s image of her through lines like “[r]ose garden filled with thorns” and the subtle pen click heard after “[a]nd I’ll write your name.”
Even among an arsenal of highly-acclaimed songs, “Style” still stands out among the rest. Allegedly about her relationship with Harry Styles, its now-iconic electric guitar riff leads into booming, pulsing synthesizers. As Kelsey McKinney notes, the chord structure of “Style” includes a subtle minor chord in the chorus, representing the uncertainty of emotions behind the song and the relationship it discusses.
No discussion of 1989 would be complete without “Shake It Off.” Released as the album’s lead single two months before the full record, the song served as her most reinventive to date thanks to its overt pop sensibilities. While sometimes maligned, especially for its infamous bridge (“You could’ve been gettin’ down / To this sick beat”), it transformed Swift overnight into the pop icon she’s still known as today. Similar to “Blank Space,” the disdain “Shake It Off” has received is reflective of its content, as the song itself addresses and disses Swift’s haters. This song’s virality comes not only from its drum beat, but from the relatability of ignoring one’s own nay-sayers and, well, dancing through it all.
Atmosphere is front and center in 1989. Take “Wildest Dreams,” whose beat is based on Swift’s actual heartbeat and whose ethereal backing vocals turn the song into a dreamscape. On “Out of the Woods,” Antonoff’s backing vocals combined with booming drums create a sense of urgency, perfectly appropriate for a song about grappling with a tumultuous relationship. “New Romantics,” one of the album’s three bonus tracks, is clearly influenced by the new wave synthesizers of the 1980s, as reflected by its title.
Outside of the radio hits, there are many tracks on this album that have become underrated in the ten years since its release. “All You Had To Do Was Stay” is a strong synthpop track whose genesis came to Swift in a dream. “Clean,” a collaboration with English pop pioneer Imogen Heap, serves as a perfect conclusion for the standard edition of “1989.” Getting over a fractured relationship is a relatable experience for many, and Swift’s presentation of such as an addiction underscores its approachable nature.
1989 anticipated much of Swift’s future work. The backlash she received from her full genre transition to pop on 1989 inspired her to go after her critics even more on her next LP, Reputation (2017). Her next release, Lover (2019), would be the antithesis of “Reputation” with bubblegum pop and a more welcoming sound.
Despite their differences, Reputation and Lover were directly influenced by the electropop tracks on 1989, especially with tracks such as “King of My Heart,” “Don’t Blame Me” and the monumental “Cruel Summer.” She would take jabs at “the haters” in “Look What You Made Me Do” and “You Need to Calm Down,” and would celebrate her romantic interest in “Call It What You Want” and “Lover.” Even on her latest release, The Tortured Poets Department (2024), electropop songs like “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” would not have been possible without the foundation 1989 laid down.
Perhaps most importantly, Swift’s work with Antonoff on the songs “Out of the Woods” and “I Wish You Would” kickstarted what would be many years of collaboration. All of Swift’s successive albums have featured Antonoff as a producer and songwriter. Among other achievements, their partnership has produced five number-one singles in the United States. While some have grown weary of Swift-Antonoff, their influence on pop music in the 2010s and 2020s has been, for better or for worse, undeniable.
Overall, 1989 is a cultural touchstone that not only catapulted Taylor Swift into pop stardom but also represented a high point in the genre amid contemporaries like Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry. A full decade after its release, 1989 continues to stand out as a case study of successful artistic reinvention combined with a successful capture of the pop zeitgeist.
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